Buy & Sell

Help

Newsletter

Posted June 1, 2006 07:14 am

SEC basketball take center stage at meetings

DESTIN, Fla. - Nearly two months have passed since the Southeastern Conference showed the nation it is more than just a football conference, but the glow of landing two teams in the men's basketball Final Four still hasn't faded.

Athletic director Skip Bertman noticed it last month on the LSU Spring Tiger Tour, where coach John Brady didn't play third fiddle - like in the past - to football coach Les Miles and women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman.

"He's a good speaker and a funny guy, but now all of a sudden he's in the Final Four and he's Johnny Carson," Bertman said. "They can't get him off the stage. People clap. There's standing ovations."

Brady's autographed basketballs now are sought-after auction items.

"(Chatman's) ball always sold for $150, and we brought John's ball home," Bertman said. "This year, his ball sells for $300 and Pokey's still sells for $150."

Brady led LSU to its first Final Four appearance in 20 years, and Florida cut down the nets when it won its first national title in men's basketball.

SEC coaches are reaping the benefits of having two teams in the Final Four.

"We don't sign Ramarus Smith, who was one of the top point guard prospects left, without Florida winning the national championship and LSU going to the Final Four," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "It just raised our credibility with him and the league's credibility."

Preseason football magazines may have hit the shelves, but basketball talk isn't buried beneath the white sand outside the Sandestin Hilton, where this week's SEC spring meeting is being held.

Florida coach Billy Donovan shared a ballroom Tuesday for media interviews with football coach Urban Meyer and former Gators and now South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier.

"Is this where the 'Billy Donovan Show' is?" Spurrier asked when he entered the room.

The SEC was expected to be down this past season after a wave of players jumped as early entries into the NBA draft. Seven entered the draft, but only LSU's Brandon Bass was selected.

"Since most of you pronounced us dead in November, I feel pretty good," SEC commissioner Mike Slive recalled telling reporters at the Final Four.

The SEC had two Final Four teams for the first time since Kentucky and Mississippi State in 1996. No SEC team had reached the Final Four since Florida was runner-up in 2000.

"Going into next season, we'll have great momentum as a conference and nobody will be able to ignore the fact that we're the best league in the country," Georgia coach Dennis Felton said.

Now the league coaches want to build on last season's success.

A league "challenge series" with the Big 12 or Big East is expected in 2007, which will add more exposure.

South Carolina coach Dave Odom said unlike five years ago when he entered the SEC, coaches are now receptive to playing more games on days other than Wednesdays and Saturdays.

"The coaches now understand that we were getting killed by the ACC and other leagues playing almost every night of the week," Odom said.

Coaches said Thursday and Sunday games are being talked about.

"I will not complain about having one day less to prepare if I'm on ESPN on Thursday night," Pearl said.

SEC teams should be sought-after by network executives.

Florida, which returns its starting five including Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford, is No. 1 and LSU is No. 4 in ESPN.com's early top 25 for next season. Sportsline.com has three SEC teams - including Tennessee - in its top 15.

"We're going to be ranked very high because of last year," Donovan said. "I'm not so sure we should be ranked that high. We have something else to prove now. How do our players handle the hoopla and all the excitement and being told how great we are and everything else surrounding it?"

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told Donovan that "your life will never be the same" after winning the national title, but LSU's Brady expects basketball's place in the SEC landscape won't change drastically despite the success of last season.

"I think the Southeastern Conference, even though we had two teams go the Final Four and Dave Odom at South Carolina wins the NIT, we're always going to be under the umbrella of football," Brady said. "That's just the way it is. If that bothers you as a basketball coach in the SEC, maybe you need to coach somewhere else. I grew up in the South. I understand what it is. I do know this. If you don't win games at LSU in any sport, they'll let you know how important it is. Trust me."